Sep 9, 2007 Sep 11, 2007 Monday September 10, 2007
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Music industry has another death-spasm, coughs up "ringles"
Filed under: Portable Audio It seems like very couple months one of the major labels announce yet another harebrained scheme to entice consumers to purchase CDs, regardless of what people actually prefer, and right on schedule, Sony BMG and Universal have announced their latest three-martini-and-a-cocktail-napkin plan: the "ringle," a $6 CD single featuring a remix and ringtone. There's really not much more to say -- trying to revive the CD single by adding in something that consumers are used to getting over-the-air seems like it speaks for itself -- but it's certainly interesting to see the labels desperately try and nab as much of the ringtone market as they can, even as their partners try and move forward. We'll see you at the funeral, boys.[Image courtesy of Boy Genuis Report] Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsOffice Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
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iTunes search now auto completes
Filed under: iTS, iTunesIt looks like Apple has unleashed another new iTunes feature tonight, in addition to ringtones. Now when you search the iTunes Store using iTunes 7.4.1 (haven't tried it in an older version) the search offers up some auto complete options. As you can see above I was searching for They Might Be Giants and like magic iTunes knew.Thanks to everyone who sent this in.Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Mister Retro brings UniBi Machine Wash Image Filters to Photoshop CS3
Mister Retro let us know today that, after months of conversion to the Universal Binary platform, they have announced that their Machine Wash Image Filters are now fully compatible with Adobe... ....Read more on MacMerc.com
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REALbasic 2007 release 4 ships
REAL Software announced today that REALbasic 2007 Release 4 is available now. REALbasic 2007 Release 4 focuses on modernization and stability, with over 80 improvements and 9 new features including... ....Read more on MacMerc.com
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TUAW Gallery: iPhone Ringtones in Action
Filed under: iPod Family, iTS, iPhoneGallery: iTunes Ringtones Gallery iTunes Ringtones store have started going live in stages. First, a note appeared when I enabled the Ringtones column, informing me that the iTunes store allows me to create ringtones from many songs. Next, grayed-out ringtones started appearing next to some tracks. I purchased a track--two actually because the first one would not download no matter how many times I checked for purchases--and after it downloaded to my purchases tapped the ringtone bell to create my own ringtone. As the gallery shows, I was able to use the m4r/m4a rename trick to get my custom ringtones to sync with the iPhone. Ironically, $3 later, my purchased iTunes ringtone will not.Dud.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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QuickerTek brings 802.11a/b/g/n to the Mac mini
QuickerTek has announced a new 802.11 upgrade for Mac Mini Intel computers. Most notable is the addition of 802.11a wireless - a feature not even available from Apple. It is available as both a... ....Read more on MacMerc.com
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Altec Lansing intros a slew of audio output options
Filed under: Home EntertainmentAltec Lansing is getting seriously serious about your output -- or rather, the lack thereof. The company -- known for making all kinds of funky gear to facilitate rockin' good times and totally bodacious partying -- has just released a handful of new products aimed at the iPod or PC user who needs to get his or her sound heard. First on the list is the $129.95 IMT521 Soundblade (pictured), a totally righteous device that uses your wireless waves to blast the latest Rihanna jam from whatever Bluetooth-equipped device you happen to have laying around (mobile phone, PMP, the truck from Maximum Overdrive... er, wait). Also in your musical future is the $39.95 IMT207 Orbit-M and the IM207 Orbit-MP3, circular speaker devices that let you pipe your 100,000-million-song playlists into an actual speaker (via the headphone jack) and rock for 24-hours straight on three AAA batteries. The company is also offering the cute-as-a-button IMT127 Nobi ($39.95), a small, square speaker that's aimed at Nokia XpressMusic users, and the $99.95, PC-centric SoundBar; a strip-speaker that sits between you and your monitor for full-blast audio action. No word on street dates, but rumor has it these are headed out sometime in October. Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsOffice Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
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AT&T shifts to wireless focus with new ads and color
To those who think the Apple iPhone is just a clever way for AT&T (T) to grab wireless market share think again. AT&T's new ...
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Apple Deals With InterDigital For Future iPhone Tech, Stocks Hit Hard
Apple has inked a deal with Interdigital to provide cellular technology for upcoming iPhones which include current 2G and potential 3G hardware. It’s refreshing to see some mention of 3G technology and the iPhone in the same sentence (however…
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iPhone Unlock Software Finally Available
Wait no longer for untethered iPhone action.
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Master Baiter.
There's really no other way to describe The Street's Scott Moritz. The man is a master link baiter. Take today's fetid offering (tip o' the antlers to gadgetgav and again, cached copy is not yet available, just say no to clicking) for example. The decision to drop half the iPhone lineup validates rumors reported July 31 by TheStreet.com that Apple was cutting production in half. Uh, right. So, what you're saying, Scott, is that half of iPhone sales were 4 GB iPhones and that Apple expects that absolutely no one who was going to buy a $499 4 GB iPhone is going to buy a $399 8 GB iPhone? Because that's the stupidest thing the Macalope's ever heard. Yes, it's certainly possible that Apple cut production back after the launch, it's probably even likely, but to say that it had something to do with dropping the 4 GB iPhones -- which were probably never even produced in the same number as the 8 GB model -- is absurd. Last week's price cut decision was so abrupt that Apple's exclusive wireless partner, AT&T, learned of the changes during Job's speech, say sources. Wow, now that's the stupidest thing the horny one's ever heard. It just beat out that other thing you said. This piece is recursively stupid, returning ever stupider results. Scott, these price cuts took effect immediately. At both Apple and AT&T stores. And you want us to believe that AT&T didn't even know about it? Scott, the Macalope's been an AT&T customer for years and he can tell you, AT&T is not that nimble. If Moritz truly believes that, he has no business being near a computer let alone trying to pass himself off as someone capable of speaking with any authority on stocks. Or bunnies. Seriously, some computers have sharp corners and Moritz could poke an eye out or something. So now, after two months of essentially overcharging eager gadget lovers for a 2.5G EDGE phone, Apple will not be able to reward loyal holdouts who had been waiting for a full-speed version of the iPhone this year, say observers. Observers like... Scott Moritz! See how easy it is to be a silly pundit? One of the problems behind the 3G delay, says Entner, is that the speedier HSDPA, or high-speed downlink packet access, network technology has much higher power demands -- requiring new bigger, stronger batteries. There's a joke in there about Scotty saying the batteries "canna take it", but the Macalope's too disgusted at this point to slap it together. Also, it's not really a very good joke. But this is a complete non sequitur. Does Moritz expect us to believe that Apple just realized that 3G required more battery life than EDGE? Steve Jobs noted that himself months ago in his defense of Apple's decision to use EDGE over 3G. This has nothing to do with Moritz's fantasized delay of a fantasized phone. "They expected, internally, higher sales than they have seen" for the iPhone, says one industry strategist. "So they decided to cut the price to stimulate demand." This analyst's name wouldn't rhyme with "Smenderle", would it? And since when do analysts have to speak off the record? If that's an analyst's opinion, why wouldn't he or she back it up? Isn't that what they do? Try to look smart in the press so that people will buy their analysis? Of course that doesn't work when the analysis is as stupid as this analysis, what with Apple having just announced that it has met its goal of selling 1 million iPhones by the end of the quarter, three weeks before the quarter's end and only a few days after the price cut. But that means Apple so far has failed to sell out the 1 million phones it was prepared to supply in the first week of its introduction -- signaling to industry experts that there was a limited demand for the "revolutionary" new device. The Macalope will just point out that any positive integer other than infinity is "limited". What's important is how well the iPhone is selling against its competitors and at least some results indicated it's doing quite well. Moritz is still trying to pick up the shattered pieces of his reputation about having said Apple was hoping to sell 1 million phones in its debut weekend. Here he manages to get a little closer to reality by going from "the debut weekend" to "the first week", but he's still wildly off. Apple has publicly stated that it hopes to sell 10 million iPhones by the end of next year. If they sold a million a week that would be 78 million iPhones. The horny one doesn't know what the company's internal number might be, but it ain't that. Here's a pointless little exercise the results of which don't amount to much, but you kids what bought that there Numbers application can try at home. Take 1,000,000 iPhones shipped and divide it by 74 days since its release. Then multiply that number by the 20 days left in this quarter. Let's call that number A. Now take Apple's 92 cents/share actual results for the third fiscal quarter and subtract its 66 cents/share guidance for the third fiscal quarter. Then divide that number by 92 to get the percentage the company's public number underestimated the actual number, which is a lazy and pointless indicator for how much the company's public numbers underestimate reality. Then multiply that by 1,000,000 and we'll call the result number B. Now compare A and B. Pretty close, huh? Still, rather meaningless. Although, probably not as meaningless as Moritz's piece.
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MobileSafari-Optimized UI for MT 4
Great work from Brad Choate and Walt Dickinson at Six Apart. I’m upgrading to MT 4 just for this. ★
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Coda Toolbar and the Three Pixel Conundrum
Great story by Cabel Sasser on the custom toolbar Panic came up with for Coda. The takeaway is this: Mac developers shouldn’t merely copy Apple’s UI trends from head to toe. If you can devise something better than what Apple is doing, Apple might copy you, and you’ll be the one setting the trend. ★
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Review: RadTech Gelz for iPhone
When we first saw Gelz a couple of months ago, they were throwaway-class Chinese cases for the iPhone, complete with the sort of first-wave issues we came to expect from such things: mediocre fit, coverage of iPhone's proximity sensor, and poorly cut top and back holes. They also had an unnecessary hole for the Home button, and a depressed circular area on the back near the Apple logo. (You can see two photos of the original design at the bottom…
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Podcast #23: iPhone Price Drop, New iPods and Rock & Roll
The iPhone price drop stirs different reactions at Mac|Life. Questions answered about the new iPods interface.
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Dan Frommer Says 1 Million iPhones in 74 Days Is Not a Good Number
Dan Frommer: Jobs has announced plans to sell 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008 — a year and a half after launch. But a million iPhones in 74 days works out to a little less than 5 million iPhones per year — if you’re selling them at a consistent rate. Pointing out that iPhone sales aren’t yet selling at a pace to reach 10 million by the end of 2008 is like pointing out that a car that just pulled out of a parking spot isn’t yet going 65 MPH. Sales curves bend. It’s so obvious I can’t believe everyone doesn’t see it. Apple is going to push the price down as fast as they can. At $599, the iPhone was better but more expensive than its competitors. At $399 it’s better and cost-competitive. Next year Apple will have iPhone models that are better and cheaper than its competitors. Apple sold 270,000 machines in the first two frenzied days it was on sale, which means it took 72 more days to sell another 700,000 phones. It’s absolutely true that Apple’s “million iPhones in 74 days” number is severely distorted by the unprecedented opening weekend demand. But 700,000 phones over the remaining 72 days is great. Did any other smartphone sell better in that period? Anyone who wants to bet me that Apple won’t sell 10 million by the end of 2008, let me know. ★
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Apple confirms: iPod touch cannot add calendar appointments
Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable VideoLate last night some eagle-eyed Engadget readers spotted some disparities in Apple's international sites, with some claiming the iPod touch would be able add calendar appointments with its calendar app, and others omitting that language. We got in touch with our people down in Cupertino who just confirmed the (somewhat) bad news is real: "Like current iPods, the touch can only view calendar entries created on your computer". In other words, no, you can't make new calendar entries on the fly. Why Apple would want to remove this simple feature that's already built into the mobile OS X calendar experience is really beyond us, but we guess they're doing their damnedest to draw the line in the sand between iPod and iPhone. Still, makes you wonder what other minor, useful features Apple pulled from the touch.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Permalink | Email this | CommentsOffice Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
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iPod touch mysteriously lacks ability to add Calendar events
Unlike the iPhone, the Calendar on the iPod touch will apparently not allow users to add events, much to the chagrin of prospective buyers.Read More...
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Making the impossible possible: iPod Touch VOIP
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPod Family, Hacks, iPhoneOne of the very first questions that popped into my head after hearing, during the liveblog last week, that the iPod Touch had wireless capability was how soon the hackers would get wifi VOIP running on it. Michael over at the Apple Gazette had the same thought, and he's even got a plan on how to do it-- if the iPhone's mic-enabled headphones work in the iPod Touch, we're golden.Unfortunately, I agree with what Erica said on the last Talkcast-- it's probably not that easy. But even she agreed that if someone can hook the dock connection up to a microphone, then we might be in business. Skype is already working (in some form) on the iPhone, and considering the iPod Touch and the iPhone are as similar as Apple says they are, the software shouldn't be a problem. Getting the audio in and out to the right places is where the trouble lies.But after everything we've seen come down on the iPhone, you won't catch me betting against the hackers. If there's a will, there's a way, and so if you really want to get your iPod Touch running wifi VOIP (like some kind of psuedo iPhone clone), my guess is that you'll eventually be able to do it.[ via Macenstein ]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Apple Gazette Daily 116 - All kinds of iPhone Goodness
It's all about the iPhone today as we discuss a variety of stories about the device. You can subscribe via iTunes, or by RSS feed, or… you can directly download the episode right here. In addition to that, you should be able to play every episode of the podcast directly in your browser by using the widget which is now located in the side column of the site. Just click on the headphones to play the podcast inside the widget with full audio controls.
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First Looks: Jensen Banshee JiSS-550 Docking Speaker Station for iPod
As the more deluxe of two new Banshee speaker systems from Jensen, the JiSS-550 ($130) is a two-piece speaker and docking system that uses glossy black plastic enclosures and prominent chrome highlights. The speaker unit contains five separate speaker drivers, power and volume controls, while a standalone dock plugs into its rear for iPod compatibility. A matching remote control is also included. Like the less expensive JiSS-330, the unit promises…
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First Looks: Jensen Banshee JiSS-330 Docking Speaker Station for iPod
As the simpler of two new Banshee speaker systems from Jensen, the JiSS-330 ($100) packs three speakers and an iPod dock into a single glossy black plastic enclosure with prominent chrome highlights and a matching remote control. The unit promises “surround sound with unmatched volume and precision,” and has video outputs that are compatible with the 5G iPod. Its more deluxe JiSS-550 brother is spotlighted in a separate First Look today.…
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Abusive iPhone Blog Post Comments: What People Really Mean
One of the great things about writing for a blog, especially one that is remotely related to Apple and the so-called “Cult of Mac� is the sheer enjoyment I get from reading blog posts and comments of those posts. It seems that any time anyone has some sort…
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iPod nano/classic take-aparts
Filed under: iPod FamilyPeople love to dismantle their expensive, new toys for whatever reason (probably the same reason I took transistor radios apart as a kid - to see "how it works"). Today, AppleInsider is pointing to fully illustrated take-aparts at iFixit.com - one for the iPod nano, and one for the classic. They note that Apple abandoned the anodized aluminum enclosure of the former nano for the scratch-hungry gloss of the original. Also, Apple used lots of adhesive with the nano, which makes getting it back together difficult.As for the classic, it has metal enclosure tabs instead of the old plastic ones, making it harder to get apart.If you're still compelled to disassemble your iPod, iFixit has the how-to.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Aspyr (not EA) releases Sims Pet Stories for Mac
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Software, Odds and endsGood news for you Sims completists out there (or anyone with a daughter on a MacBook): Aspyr Media has released Sims Pet Stories, the standalone Sims Pets game that lets you train, play with, and care for cats and dogs destined for the Pet Show. The reviews aren't exactly shining, but according to the user ratings at the bottom of the page, anyone who wants a cute and funny game that runs on a Mac should like it.Of course, the more cynical side of me notes that this is yet another Electronic Arts game being ported by Aspyr instead of being released directly by EA. What did they promise us at WWDC again? [via MacWorld]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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iPhone SIM unlock giveaway: round 1
Filed under: CellphonesSo if you haven't already heard, today is iPhoneSIMfree launch day, and the crew that software unlocked the iPhone has hooked us up with five iPhone unlocks to give away to you, our faithful, iPhone obsessed readers. We'll be giving one away each day of the week this week, starting now! Here's how it works.Details about the unlock You must send us your iPhone's IMEI; you can't resell the unlock. If we don't receive your IMEI in a timely manner, we may award the unlock to someone else. We will not be offering tech support on the unlock. Once you've got it, it's out of our hands, ok? We do not make any guarantees about the unlock. We're not guaranteeing that it will work when your phone gets the next Apple update later this month, that it will work with your SIM or your carrier, or even that it will work on your phone. We're not even going to guarantee you won't end up with a bricked phone. We're just handing it off to the winner, the end. The other regular rules (yeah, there are always rules): Leave a comment below. That's it! Who loves you, baby. You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.) In other words, be careful when commenting and if you submit more than once, only activate one comment, ok? If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Contest is open to anyone worldwide! Duh. Winner will be chosen randomly. Entries can be submitted for the next 24 hours. After that we'll move on to the next iPhone unlock. Good luck! Permalink | Email this | CommentsOffice Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
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Engadget: iPhoneSIMfree Unlocking Video
I would have wagered that this was a scam, but it looks like I would have lost that bet. Still, though, $100 for a service that Apple seems likely to disable with the next iPhone software update, and which you’ll have to pay for again if they do? ★
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Backstage: How'd They Do It? 3G nano Cases from Rumors or Inside Info
The days constituting the last week have been more than a bit blurry around these parts, so I didn't think twice when a package arrived from Hong Kong this morning with this inside: Uniea's U-Suit for iPod nano (3G). “Wow,” I thought, somewhat passively, “it's the first case for the new iPod nano.” You know, the one we featured in this news story five days before the nano was unveiled. The one that some people…
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Keyword Manager for iPhoto: Get your tagging on
iPhoto offers some passable tools for tagging your photos, but Keyword Manager is the next step up for anyone who needs more power when managing his or her library.Read More...
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PC Mag calls 3G iPod nano ''the best-designed flash video player on the market''
Steve Jobs must be all a'twitter at reading Tim Gideon's review of the new iPod nano. Not only does Gideon call the device "the best-designed flash video player on the market" but he goes on to say... ....Read more on MacMerc.com
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SanDisk Puts nano in Crosshairs With New Media Player
SanDisk on Monday announced a new, pencil-thin video MP3 player that appears likely to go head-to-head with Apple's newly upgraded iPod nano. The new Sansa View combines MP3 playback capabilities with full-motion video support, a large screen, long battery life and generous capacity. Perhaps even more notable, the device also boasts an optional 8 GB microSD/microSDHC card for memory capabilities of up to 24 GB. Due in October, the Sansa View will carry a suggested retail price of $199.99 for a 16 GB flash-based player or $149.99 for a 8 GB version.
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Online & iPhone Optimized Translator
The roaming rates of the iPhone are alarming and might rob you of the needed funds for a language translation book, luckily there are many online and free web sources to solve this dilemma and Cool Gorilla just happens to be one…
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Six Apart launches iPhone/iPod Touch specific Movable Type 4/Typepad
Filed under: Internet Tools, iPhoneBig blogging company Six Apart, makers of Movable Type and Typepad, have announced a plugin for Movable Type 4 that makes it possible to blog from your iPhone using a very nice iPhone specific interface (they are also offering up the same interface for Typepad which is where I host my personal blog, and have done so for the last 4 years).I played around with the Typepad iPhone interface and I must say it is very nice indeed.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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HD video: iPhone unlocked on camera from start to finish
Filed under: Cellphones, Features Ok, here it is, the first time on camera you've seen a real iPhone software SIM unlocked from start to finish (and not done with the demo app iPhoneSIMfree sent out last week). The last iPhoneSIMfree unlock video we had only showed of the end result of a successful iPhone unlock, which took place off-camera. This time we're doing the entire process, which we confirmed earlier this morning, on video. For quick reference, here are the steps we took on camera: Started with AT&T SIM inserted Inserted T-Mobile SIM, showed that it produces invalid SIM error (expected behavior for a locked iPhone) Connected to iPhone over SSH Transferred iPhoneSIMfree unlock app over SCP Restarted SpringBoard (iPhone default application launcher) Ran iPhoneSIMfree app When complete, iPhone shows that T-Mobile SIM no longer produces invalid SIM error, instead asks for activation (expected behavior for an iPhone that has a valid SIM, but is not yet activated) Prep for re-activation off camera using iAsign (phone is now unlocked, but still activated with AT&T) Back on camera: activate iPhone with T-Mobile SIM using iAsign Make test call to another phone Activate iPhone once more with AT&T SIM using iAsign Granted, we don't expect end-users to take all these steps when unlocking their iPhone -- we just went a little overboard here so everyone can see the release software is functional, and unlocks iPhones as advertised. Embedded player after the break, more download links coming shortly (sorry, HD video takes forever to render and upload). [MP4] Download in 720p HD (187MB)Continue reading HD video: iPhone unlocked on camera from start to finish Permalink | Email this | CommentsOffice Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
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Six Apart announces TypePad web app for iPhone and iPod touch
Six Apart today announced the release of a mobile version of the award-winning TypePad blogging application customized for the iPhone. The TypePad iPhone application was designed from the ground... ....Read more on MacMerc.com
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1 million iPhones served, says Apple
Apple has announced that it sold its one millionth iPhone yesterday, just 74 days after its introduction on June 29. For those who need to hear it again, the iPhone combines three devices into one: a... ....Read more on MacMerc.com
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Found Footage: Visual comparison of InkWell to Vista's handwriting recognition
Filed under: OS, Video, Found Footage The above video is a visual comparison of OS X's InkWell to Microsoft's handwriting recognition built into Vista. By using a Silverlight application he's able to send the pen strokes from a Mac to a remote Windows server. So he basically tries to write the same thing with each system.The author of the video seems to prefer Vista's offering, especially when writing in cursive, but grants that others may feel differently. He's also summarized his impressions. In any case, it's interesting to see the two systems side by side. Have any of you used both systems? Do you think this is a fair test? If you install Silverlight you can do the demo yourself here. [via jkOnTheRun]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Apple may enter bidding war for 700MHz spectrum
When it comes to interested bidders for the upcoming 700MHz spectrum auction, Google is the new kid on the block. The search giant may also have some competition from another new challenger: Apple.Read More...
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[Sponsor] Phone Different
This week’s feed is sponsored by the Phone different Store: The Phone different Store sells a wide variety of cases, Bluetooth headsets, adapters, chargers, and other accessories for the iPhone — our selection is growing weekly. The store features fast, same day shipping and every item is rigorously tested for compatibility. You can also call an actual person to order at 866-757-7752. Until next Wednesday, use coupon code “MACNERDERY” to get 10 percent off your purchase! The Phone different blog and forum are editorially independent and great places to find out more about your iPhone. You might also check out the podcast.
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Set the Macalope's feeds free!
RSS feeds should now be full Macalopey goodness. Turns out all the horned one had to do was ask. How 'bout that? Thanks, Kelly and Bernie!
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Introducing TypePad for iPhone and iPod Touch
Very nice MobileSafari-optimized interface for TypePad. I bet we see something similar for Movable Type 4. ★
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NAS for the Masses
I receive (and ignore) a lot of press releases and new product announcements, but this one caught my eye and looks pretty interesting. MicroNet has just released a low-end NAS storage solution that can put terrabytes of storage into your home network for a surprisingly affordable price — their 1TB model lists for just $339. Aimed squarely at home power users and small office situations, the new Fantom Drives G-Force MegaDisk NAS appliance features an integrated print server, an iTunes music server, and NTI Software’s Shadow zero-touch automated backup, and comes in 1.0 TB, 1.5 TB, and 2.0 TB configurations (list prices: $339, $579, and $999). If you’ve been amassing a collection of digital photos, music, and movies and don’t have a backup system in place, this new NAS appliance sounds like a very attractive option. I haven’t crossed that line into measuring my data in terrabytes yet, but I’m rapidly getting there and I’m happy to see some serious storage solutions hitting the market that won’t break the bank. We’ll try and get our hands on a demo unit of the G-Force and let you know how it performs.
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Apple Keeps Its Million iPhone Promise
Days after it startled the market with news that it was cutting the price of its iPhone, Apple announced that it had sold the one-millionth gadget a few weeks ahead of schedule. In earlier statements, the company promised the market that it expected to sell one million iPhones by the end of September. The symbolic milestone reassured skittish investors, who had begun to suspect that the iPhone was not doing as well as Apple originally expected. Apple, however, is choosing to look at the situation differently.
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How can I change my 35mm slides into digital photos?
Now you can bore your friends with your trip to Utah - digitally.
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News: New iPods = new iLounge forums
During the Apple Special Event “The Beat Goes On,” iLounge launched new forums to cover the latest additions to the Apple iPod family. We've spent the weekend tweaking them—and actually, all the forums—to make it easier for you to find what you're looking for. The new iPod classic has joined with the existing iPod (with video) forum to cover the full range of video enabled iPods, while a new iPod touch forum can…
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PS3 backwards compatibility checker emigrates to US site
Filed under: Gaming Well just like the software emulation-only backwards compatibility that has followed the PlayStation 3 out of Europe, so too has the ol' online compat checker crossed the pond to helpfully inform you of the glitches you can expect in your favorite classic titles if you pick up the new 80GB SKU -- this might be one case where the early adopters really did get a better deal.[Via Joystiq] Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsOffice Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
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iPod touch Needs Input
The iPod touch doesn't care if you want to make plans.
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Office Wars 3 - How Microsoft Got Its Office Monopoly
Daniel Eran DilgerOffice Wars 1 - Claris and the Origins of Apple’s iWork Office Wars 2 - Microsoft’s Outrageous Office ProfitsOffice Wars 3 - How Microsoft Got Its Office MonopolyMicrosoft’s Office monopoly gives the company more revenues and delivers nearly as much profit as its Windows software. How did it gain such a powerful position in productivity applications? The history of Office is rooted in decisions Apple made in the 80s with the Lisa and Macintosh, and also has an interesting correlation to Apple’s iPhone strategy today.The Origins of Office.While Microsoft has overwhelming power in desktop productivity applications today, it entered the market late. In the early 80s, Microsoft principally sold language software and struggled to license copies of AT&T’s Unix under the name Xenix. In 1981, Microsoft teamed up with IBM to license a copycat version of CP/M as the DOS for IBM’s new PC. Microsoft didn’t really get started in applications until Steve Jobs approached the company that same year with a proposal to develop for Apple’s new Macintosh.Entrusted with prototype Mac hardware and inside access to Apple’s development tools, Microsoft made an agreement with Apple in 1981 not to ship any mouse-based products of its own until a year after Apple introduced the Mac. In exchange, Apple promised to give Microsoft a rare opportunity to enter the competitive desktop applications market using its entirely new Mac platform as a launching pad.[SCO, Linux, and Microsoft in the History of OS: 1970s][SCO, Linux, and Microsoft in the History of OS: 1980s]Software Sells Systems!Prior to the Mac, Apple had released the Lisa as its first graphical desktop computer. Since developing new graphical apps for the Lisa was very different and required special training, Apple delivered its own complete productivity suite for the Lisa. It planned to open up the Lisa platform to third party development at some point after the initial launch, but the immediate focus had been to deliver a unique set of applications to demonstrate the power of Lisa’s new graphical interface.Recalling the software focus of the Lisa development team, reader Jim Hoyt emailed me several months ago in response to “Why Apple Bounced Back,� an article crediting Apple’s recent internal software development efforts with a large role in the company’s turnaround over the last decade. Hoyt wrote, “In 1979, John Couch, the soon-to-be head of the Lisa project, was in charge of all software at Apple Computer. He commissioned this poster: Software Sells Systems.� I’ve been meaning to publish the otherwise long since lost to history poster, so here it is, belatedly. Thanks Jim![Why Apple Bounced Back]Apple Delivers Lisa Suite Seven Years Ahead of Microsoft Office.The poster’s premise was obvious: the Lisa wasn’t going to sell itself; it needed practical software applications to usher in the future of the graphical desktop. Apple developed an entire suite of seven productivity applications that shipped with the Lisa system in 1983, including word processing, spreadsheet, database, drawing, graphing, project management, and terminal emulation programs. It was seven years later before Microsoft would first package its Word, Excel, and PowerPoint applications together as Office 1.0 in 1990. In his February 1983 review of the Lisa for Byte magazine, Gregg Williams concluded: “As you can tell, I am very impressed with the Lisa. I also admire Apple for deciding to make the system without being unduly influenced by cost or marketing constraints. The Lisa couldn’t have been developed without such a deep commitment, and no other company I can think of could afford such a project or would be interested in doing it this way (the Lisa project reportedly cost over $50 million and used more than 200 person-years of effort!). In terms of the actual, as opposed to symbolic, effect it will have on both the microcomputer and the larger-computer market, the Lisa system is the most important development in computers in the last five years, easily outplacing IBM’s introduction of the Personal Computer in August, 1981.�A year later, Lisa ended up being replaced by the much less expensive Macintosh, which delivered much of the Lisa’s functionality at a quarter of the price. However, the Mac did not include the Lisa’s expensive megabyte of RAM, its hard drive, or its productivity application suite. The Mac only shipped with a word processor and painting tools.Why Apple didn’t port its Lisa applications to the Macintosh is a confounding riddle, because it had more than a half decade of opportunity to do so. The main reason for this was a paranoid fear of alienating outside developers, along with jitters related to IBM’s rapid poaching of the desktop computing world after the arrival of its PC in 1981.[“The Lisa Computer System� Reprinted from Byte, issue 2/1983] [The Lisa, Apple's First GUI-Based Computer System - VAW][How Apple Keyboards Lost a Logo and Windows PCs Gained One]Apple’s Lisa vs the Third Party Mac Platform: 1980 - 1984.Competition inside Apple between the Lisa development group and the Macintosh team led to a different software strategy for the Mac. Since the smaller Mac group didn’t have the resources to develop a full suite of applications in advance of its launch, it planned to leverage third party development in the same way as the Apple II had.Sales of Apple II computers had exploded in 1979 with the release of Dan Bricklin’s VisiCalc spreadsheet software. That success was a large reason why IBM decided to get involved in the microcomputer business with the PC in the first place. It wasn’t until 1984 that Apple began making lots of money selling AppleWorks, its word processing, spreadsheet, and database package for the Apple II. It continued to sell the software with only limited updates well into the early 90s.Apple management failed to see the potential for delivering its own suite of Mac applications as it had on the Lisa, and as it very profitably would later do for the Apple II. Instead, it became increasingly enamored with the idea of partnering with third party software developers and delegating away the work--and the profits--of creating its own Mac software. Motivated by fears of inhibiting a third party software industry like the one that had grown up around the IBM PC, Apple intentionally stifled its own internal software development efforts and later spun them off into the Siberian gulag of Claris. That move would prove to be a devastatingly expensive mistake that would nearly destroy Apple over the next decade.Incidentally, three of the most important products Apple would release during that decade of decline were software products: the profitable AppleWorks for the Apple II in 1984.the free 1987 HyperCard for the Mac.the free 1991 QuickTime for the Mac.[HyperCard: Apple and the Origins of the Web][1990-1995: Planting Software Seeds][QuickTime: The Secret Weapon Inside iTunes]A Fearsome Future VisiOn for the PC: 1981 - 1983.Another contributing reason for Apple’s rush to embrace third party developers on the Macintosh may have been related to the fear of VisiCorp’s new mouse-driven VisiOn graphical desktop environment. VisiOn originally appeared on the Apple III in November of 1981, but the complete commercial failure of that new machine after the delivery of IBM’s PC prompted VisiCorp to announce moving its support to the PC in 1982, with a promised release target of mid-1983. Apple was still scrambling to release the Lisa and the Mac, both of which had slipped repeatedly.While clumsy, slow, and expensive--the base VisiOn software and a mouse cost $790, each application cost between $250 and $400, and it required a $5000 hard drive upgrade on top of a $2000 PC--VisiOn was backed by the legendary VisiCorp, the company that had helped launch the Apple II to fame with VisiCalc. VisiOn also tapped into IBM’s “up is down� PC, which despite its high price and low level of performance and innovation, had cut deeply into Apple’s business expansion plans, almost entirely due to IBM’s reputation and its monopoly position in business computing. After witnessing its first big failure with the Apple III, and then seeing a tepid response to the $9,995 Lisa in 1983, Apple was no doubt very concerned about IBM’s PC being converted into an ugly frankenstein Mac knockoff with that $7,500 VisiOn upgrade bolted on, cheered on by a press giddy at the prospect of being bamboozled by IBM’s overpriced and under delivering PC.The only way to compete with the threat of such a graphical system for the PC would be to deliver the new Macintosh as quickly as possible at a much lower cost with lots of applications from a variety of third party developers. Fortunately for Apple, VisiOn also slipped several months and wasn't delivered until the end of 1983. Right up until it completely fizzled, the press hailed VisiOn as a promising competitor to Apple’s Lisa and the forthcoming Macintosh.By 1983, VisiCorp had fallen apart; its star development manager Mitch Kapor had left to found Lotus Development. Kapor’s new spreadsheet product, Lotus 1-2-3 for the DOS PC, destroyed the remains of VisiCorp and its VisiOn.[VisiCorp Visi On - Toasty Tech][1980-1985: 8-bit Platforms]Frying Pan to the Fire: Apple Runs to the Arms of Microsoft: 1981.Finding developers willing to commit to investing in Apple’s next new platform was difficult after the failure of the Apple III and the wildly successful launch of the PC. Apple later found that its developer relations would suffer at the release of the “no other software needed� Lisa. For the Mac, Apple decided to copy the PC model by directing the majority of its efforts into courting third party developers and downplaying its own software releases, which were only intended to serve as basic placeholders. Even so, many PC developers planned to take a ‘wait and see’ approach to supporting the Macintosh.Hoping to prime an early and explosive business success for the Macintosh in the same way VisiCalc had launched sales of the Apple II, Steve Jobs made plans with Microsoft to deliver a graphical Mac interface for its struggling Multiplan--a VisiCalc spreadsheet clone--and a new Chart application.Microsoft had also secretly begun another Mac app initially called MultiTool Word, based on the Bravo word processor developed by Xerox PARC’s Charles Simonyi and Richard Brodie; Microsoft hired both in 1981. The company didn’t tell Apple about its new word processor project because the Mac team had already started developing a word processor for the Mac called MacWrite.[A Rich Neighbor Named Xerox - Folklore.org][An Office User Interface Blog - Microsoft’s Jensen Harris]Apple’s Problematic Partnership with Microsoft: 1981 - 1985Next to IBM, Apple was among the first companies to realize that getting into a business partnership with Microsoft was a really bad idea. Throughout 1983, Microsoft employees began intense discussions with Apple about how the Mac system software worked internally, involving issues unrelated to desktop application development. The reasons for this became obvious when Microsoft made a surprise pre-announcement at the Comdex trade show in November 1983 of a clone of Apple’s Mac environment for the PC called Windows, along with the release of a text-based Word for DOS using a mouse. Apple had previously worried about VisiCalc’s independent VisiOn appearing for the PC, but now its own partner had taken its internally developed graphical desktop work to deliver a competing product on IBM’s platform. Microsoft had discovered a loophole that allowed it to ignore its exclusive agreement with Apple because the contract had tied the year-long waiting period to the Mac’s planned ship date in 1982; that contract date wasn’t updated as the project slipped into 1984.It turned out that Word for DOS wasn’t very popular, since DOS PC users didn’t see much benefit from only using a mouse with a single application. It also turned out that Microsoft couldn’t deliver on its promise to ship Windows 1.0 by early 1984; it wasn’t actually available until 1985, and even then was a complete joke of a product and fully unusable. However, the problems Apple would suffer for trusting Microsoft were only just getting started. Windows 1.0 wasn’t much to look at, but it did offer an advancement beyond the neanderthal text interface of Word for DOS. Apple also had reason to worry when it found Microsoft was directly collaborating with IBM in 1985 to deliver a new DOS replacement called OS/2. [1990-1995: The Race to Deliver The Next New Platform][Mac Office, $150 Million, and the Story Nobody Covered]Apple Grows Dependent upon Third Party Software: 1985 - 1990.Apple’s partnership with Microsoft continued to worsen. Microsoft finally shipped its spreadsheet for the Mac in 1985, but threatened to also release it for the PC as well, prompting Apple CEO John Sculley to sign away rights to a variety of Mac system software details to Microsoft in 1985 in exchange for exclusive Mac development of the graphical Multiplan for two years. Microsoft’s Multiplan and Chart applications for the Macintosh were among the strongest software features Apple touted in its 1984 advertising. (Click to view full size).A very young Bill Gates appeared next to Mitch Kapor of Lotus Development in Apple’s Mac ads to observe, “To create a new standard takes somethings that’s not just a little bit different. It takes something that captures people's imaginations. Macintosh meets that standard.� Were he not trying to sell Windows Mobile today, he might say the same of the iPhone!Sculley had been arrogantly dismissive of Bill Gates’ July 1985 suggestion that Apple work quickly to broadly license its Mac technology to Northern Telecom, Motorola, and AT&T. Instead, Apple sought to retain control of the unique Mac desktop as a way to sell its hardware.At the same time, Apple grew increasingly reliant upon Microsoft to deliver updates to its applications for the Mac, and worried about threatening any of its third party Mac developers with its own internal application software efforts.However, in 1984 Apple had released AppleWorks for the Apple II. That program rapidly became the top selling software title of any computer platform, despite Apple’s minimal efforts to market it. It was nearly an embarrassment for Apple, which wanted to push the graphical new Macintosh, not a text-based 8-bit program. By 1987, Apple had spun off its own apps--including AppleWorks, MacWrite, MacDraw, and MacPaint--into the Claris subsidiary. Claris went on to profitably develop and acquire a suite of Mac productivity apps, but operated at an arms’ length distance from Apple. By 1990, Sculley realized the vast profit potential in application software. Apple had two solid platforms: the Apple II and the Mac. The company’s minimal efforts to market any software for them was clearly a huge mistake. Sculley subsequently decided to retain Claris as part of Apple rather than spinning it off, but that late decision shattered the subsidiary because its employees and managers had been given the expectation that a Claris IPO would make them rich. Many left in disgust.[Office Wars 1 - Claris and the Origins of Apple’s iWork]Microsoft Becomes an Applications Company: 1985 - 1989.At the same time, Microsoft’s graphical Multiplan for the Mac--which ended up being combined with the Chart app and renamed as Excel in 1985--became a huge seller for Microsoft. In contrast, the textual DOS version--which retained the Multiplan name--couldn’t compete with the top selling Lotus 1-2-3 on the PC side.Two years later in 1987, Microsoft’s deal with Sculley expired and the company released Excel 2.0 for the PC, along with Windows 2.0, which copied more of the Mac desktop, including the basic ability to display overlapping windows. No OEMs shipped Windows 2.0 on their PCs, but anyone buying the new Excel got a copy of Windows and a taste of the graphical Mac environment, albeit with Microsoft’s garish colors and its horrific MDI-style interface.Apple Sues to Stop Graphical Copycats, But Only On the PC: 1985 - 1988.While a number of companies delivered graphical environments in the pattern of VisiOn for various computer systems of the time, Apple was only threatened by those that promised to deliver the Mac look on the PC.For example, Apple ignored Berkeley Systems’ mouse-based, windowing GEOS environment, offered initially for the Commodore 64 and later Apple’s own Apple II systems.However, when CP/M maker Digital Research introduced its GEM/1 for the DOS PC, Apple sued and won an injunction that forced the company to remove certain features Apple had originally developed for the Mac, the most obvious of which was its use of graphics regions to draw sophisticated overlapping windows. At the same time, GEM/1 was also being sold for the 1985 Atari ST, but Apple completely ignored that product, enabling Atari to deliver a system so similar to the Mac it was commonly called the Jackintosh, after Atari CEO Jack Trammell. Apple also ignored overlapping windows in the 1985 Commodore Amiga, and a similar graphical desktop in the 1987 RISC OS developed by Acorn Computers. Apple was certainly aware of the British Acorn’s RISC OS, as the two companies had partnered to form ARM in order to develop a new generation of RISC based processors powering Acorn’s RISC PC and later, the Newton. Those same ARM processors now power iPods, the iPhone, and the vast majority of all mobile devices. [Origins: Why the iPhone is ARM, and isn't Symbian]However, Apple went ballistic upon the release of Microsoft’s Windows 2.0 in 1987. One reason was that Microsoft was pointedly using the product as a way to move its Mac applications to IBM’s PC, a move Apple correctly feared would quickly erode the unique value of the Macintosh. Additionally, Microsoft was also describing Windows as the basis of a new interface for IBM’s promised OS/2. Apple was livid that the trusted partner it had launched into the applications business would immediately sell it out and migrate those same applications to directly benefit its main hardware competitor. Despite the fairly insignificant sales of Windows 2.0, Sculley’s Apple sued Microsoft in 1988 over the use of Mac software details it had taken from Apple in its 1985 agreement. It also sued HP over a Windows 2.0 add on pack called NewWave, which supplied additional Mac-like features to the PC. Meanwhile, sales of Excel on the PC gradually began to grow and Microsoft worked increasingly hard to replace its Mac partner and then destroy it, using Windows as a tool to port its Mac applications to the PC instead. [Apple's Billion Dollar Patent Bluster: Patent vs. Copyright]Apple Loses Jobs, Opportunities: 1986 - 1988.In 1986--as Apple’s panic over Microsoft moving its Mac apps to the IBM PC was just getting started--Steve Jobs’ plans to rapidly move the Macintosh into the business and server arena were getting shot down by the more conservative minded Sculley. Apple’s board feared that increased investment in the Macintosh might spread the company too thin.[Steve Jobs and 20 Years of Apple Servers]Jobs subsequently left Apple in frustration to form NeXT, Inc, and develop his own ideas for business oriented workstations. Sculley replaced him with Jean Luis Gassée, who shared Sculley’s vision for dabbling in impractical technology ventures like the Newton and keeping Mac models configured for high end markets.Apple continued to make outstanding profits from increasing sales of the Mac and continued sales of the Apple II, but the company had made a grave mistake in ignoring and avoiding the software business. Even worse, it was now dependent upon a rival company to maintain key software titles for the Mac.Apple was also losing key engineering talent to Jobs’ NeXT, which by 1988 was delivering the first release of what Apple itself should have been working on: its next generation of hardware and software. [Newton Lessons for Apple's New Platform][Why OS X is on the iPhone, but not the PC: The History of NeXT]Sculley’s Apple Bungles Office Applications.While Sculley’s Apple fought Microsoft’s Windows in the courts, it did little to effectively compete in the marketplace, either with the Mac as a platform or in the applications arena to take on what would become the Microsoft Office suite in 1990. To deliver Office, Microsoft simply paired Word and Excel with PowerPoint, a Mac presentation application Microsoft acquired in 1987. Had Apple simply ported its Lisa applications to the Mac, it would have had a head start of several years to develop and refine its own applications suite, and could have maintained them as unique to the Mac without giving away its crown jewels to Microsoft in 1985. After ten years of trying, even Microsoft could eventually deliver a good enough copy of the Mac with Windows 95 in late 1995. After that, Microsoft pulled the plug on Office development for the Mac and didn’t release another update until 1998.[Office Wars 1 - Claris and the Origins of Apple’s iWork]Apple’s Squandered Opportunity in Software Sales.The bizarre thing was that Apple was making money selling AppleWorks on autopilot, and continued to do so from 1984 into the early 1990s. Additionally, the new ClarisWorks for the Mac easily captured the top spot in Mac software sales from Microsoft’s Works within its debut year in 1991. Even so, Apple did little to capitalize upon the discovery that software would indeed sell systems, just as Couch had foreseen back in 1979. Apple had a printing press for creating money, but simply left it idling while Microsoft delivered low innovation software titles and raked in millions of dollars in Mac software revenues. Sculley’s Apple essentially sat back and granted Microsoft full opportunity to clean out its entire business model without a fight, hoping that the law would rush in to correct the inequities at some point in the near future. Instead, the court deliberated for a tech eternity until 1994, and then threw out Sculley’s “look and feel� lawsuit, largely on the basis that Sculley had earlier granted Microsoft limited rights to Mac ideas back in 1985 in his desperate bid to keep Microsoft as a Mac developer. The bitter irony was that between 1985 and 1995, Microsoft needed the Mac at least as much as Apple needed Microsoft. Even in 1997, Steve Jobs could get Microsoft to agree to a half decade of continued development of Office for the Mac by simply adding Internet Explorer to the Mac desktop. Jobs turned down the hardball demand that Apple kill QuickTime, and even got a public relations coup out of the deal by having Microsoft announce a $150 million investment in Apple.Sculley’s penny wise, pound foolish conservative greed destroyed Apple and directly transferred the vast potential wealth of value Apple had originated at great expense for its 1983 Lisa graphical office suite to Microsoft, which subsequently ran with it and deserted the company. [Mac Office, $150 Million, and the Story Nobody Covered][Apple’s NeXT Server Offensive on Microsoft]Microsoft Betrays IBM and Uses Office Against OS/2.Apple wasn’t the only partner Microsoft exploited, turned on, and then tried to drive out of business. The earliest and most obvious example was IBM, which had launched Microsoft into significance as a reseller of DOS. Microsoft betrayed IBM in the development of OS/2, first by pulling out of the operating system partnership, then by canceling Office for OS/2 after shipping an initial version for it in 1992. IBM later bought up Lotus and worked to compete against Microsoft’s growing influence with Office. Microsoft responded by using its new monopoly positions to punish IBM in various moves documented in the Microsoft monopoly trial. That story follows in Office Wars 4. Using the Office Monopoly Against NeXT.Jobs carried lessons learned from watching the implosion of Apple under Sculley to NeXT. His initial goal for NeXT was to build a software platform. However, nobody was shipping hardware up to the task of running an advanced operating system, so NeXT began following the business model of Apple, selling new hardware with advanced software.While Jobs had found it challenging to find software partners for the Mac at Apple, the task was even more difficult at NeXT, which Apple had forced into the ultra high end of the workstation market using a non-compete agreement. NeXTSTEP pioneered advanced rapid development frameworks to make it easier for third parties to deliver software for the new system. When Jobs discovered that Lotus was working to deliver a new spreadsheet paradigm for OS/2, he gave the Lotus team a NeXT system and got involved in refining the software to show off the features of his new platform. In contrast, Microsoft used the productivity applications monopoly it had been handed by Apple to impede adoption of NeXT. When asked about writing software for NeXTSTEP, Microsoft’s Bill Gates famously fumed, “Develop for it? I'll piss on it.� Gates also announced plans to immediately deliver his own advanced operating system with object oriented development frameworks called Cairo, which turned out to be a vaporware lie Microsoft repeated from 1991 until NeXT was acquired by Apple in 1997.[1990-1995: Microsoft's Yellow Road to Cairo]Microsoft’s Murderous Partnerships.Microsoft helped to ensure that neither NeXT nor OS/2 could acquire a broad enough computing platform to drive a self-sustaining software business. Apple was able to maintain a struggling niche platform on the Mac, but fears of stepping on third party developers’ toes actively prevented the company from actually building on that potential until the late 90s. Ironically, Microsoft did just that, by developing its solo PC platform with Windows and then using it to destroy third party developers it viewed as competitors. By tying its Windows and Office products together, Microsoft could strangle its own former partners--the top developers of MS-DOS applications--including WordPerfect, Lotus’ 1-2-3, database and developer products from Ashton-Tate and Borland, and really every major developer on the PC that in any way challenged Microsoft.Microsoft’s coldly calculated murder of every rival DOS application developer and later many of its Windows developers, from Novell to IBM and Sun to Netscape, is an oddly public fact treated as a taboo secret by Windows Enthusiasts, who avoid all mention of it as they talk about how Apple “can’t work with partners� in the rich, supportive way Microsoft supposedly has. Any competition between Apple and third party developers--even with shareware programs--is paraded through the insufferable blogs of ZDNet and the pages of IDG’s InfoWorld/PCWorld/Computerworld and described as unconscionable conduct. This is from writers who all witnessed first hand Microsoft’s massacres of any and all “partners� the company decided no longer suited its fancy. Have these wags all been brainwashed, or are they just lying for money? As a side note, the Office Wars and Microsoft’s monopoly position in applications provide interesting insight into how Apple is deploying its iPhone software strategy, which the next article will examine.What do you think? I really like to hear from readers. Comment in the Forum or email me with your ideas. Like reading RoughlyDrafted? Share articles with your friends, link from your blog, and subscribe to my podcast! Submit to Reddit or Slashdot, or consider making a small donation supporting this site. Thanks!
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First Looks: Uniea U-Suit Folio for iPhone
A variation on the company's standard U-Suit for iPhone, Uniea's U-Suit Folio for iPhone is a hard-reinforced leather case that comes in the same set of four colors -- white, black, red, or purple -- and includes a flip-closed lid (with a business card slot) that shields iPhone's face from damage. A belt clip is built into the U-Suit Folio's back, and holes are left on the top, sides, back, and bottom for access to iPhone's ports, switches, and camera....…
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News Site Aggregator for Your iPhone/iPod Touch
If you are looking for a simple, neat news site aggregator, then look no further because I think I found the one for you. Originally made for his own personal use, Wade Meredith noticed that his father was using…
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News: iPod touch lacks ability to add calendar events?
An image posted in our iPod touch First Look article and a subsequent edit by Apple of the iPod touch's online information has led to widespread speculation that the company has intentionally removed features from the iPod touch's applications. As seen in the photo below, the iPod touch's Calendar application lacks the “Add” button found in the upper right hand corner of the iPhone's Calendar application. This button…
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First Looks: Uniea U-Suit for iPhone
Highly similar to other hard-reinforced puffed leather cases we've seen for the iPhone, Uniea's new U-Suit for iPhone comes in white, black, purple, or red, and includes only one interesting pack-in -- a belt clip-slash-video stand that lets you prop the case up on its side for widescreen video viewing. No screen protection is included, and like most of the other leather iPhone cases, holes are left at the top, side, back, and bottom for the iPhone's…
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iPhoneSIMfree's end-user solution tested, it works!
Filed under: Cellphones So last Friday we got two things from iPhoneSIMfree: the demo app of their "retail" software SIM unlock solution, and the promise that it would be available for purchase today. We can't confirm that everyone's already received their iPhone unlocks, but we did get to test the final consumer software version today -- the very same thing people all over will be paying to unlock their devices with -- and, not surprisingly, it works like a charm. In other words, while we can't vouch for any of the vendors selling the software, we can vouch for the software itself working exactly as advertised. We've got the unlock on video, which we'll be posting shortly. Permalink | Email this | CommentsOffice Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
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Spectrum Auction May Get Nibble From Apple
Google may have dominated much of the speculation so far regarding the Federal Communications Commission's upcoming auction of 700 MHz wireless spectrum, but on Monday the possibility emerged that Apple may be making its own bidding plans. Hard on the heels of Apple's widely hyped expansion of its iPod line and slashing of iPhone prices last week, word has now reportedly leaked out that the company has evaluated the possibility of placing a bid for a portion of the wireless spectrum.
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Epic: Apple Sells 1 Milllliiiooooonnnn iPhones!
Press release below: Apple(R) today announced it sold its one millionth iPhone(TM) yesterday, just 74 days after its introduction on June 29. iPhone combines three devices into one-a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod(R), and…
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iPhone unlocks go on sale... and why don't we care?
Filed under: Software, Mods, iPhoneWell that's it. Engadget revealed that iPhoneSIMfree's unlocking solution is up and running today, and they're now on sale (in fact, our Weblogs, Inc. brethren are giving them away as we speak). Hype, prices, and sketchy profiteering aside, what's done seems to be done. If you want your iPhone unlocked, have at it.Why aren't the Mac faithful more excited? Europeans are definitely interested-- we've already heard from a few of them, including reader Callum, who really want to use their iPhones. But from my general sense of the population, iPhone owners, especially Cult of Mac folks, aren't jumping at the chance. Gadgetheads like Engadget love it, but you TUAWers, despite the AT&T hate (which I share, and I'm not even an AT&T customer yet), aren't that into an unlock. As Engadget says, the iPhone hackers aren't going to bother to reverse engineer iPhoneSIMfree's solution. The whole community seems to be saying, "meh."Part of the problem is the warranty, I'd expect-- that's why I'm not going to unlock my iPhone when I eventually pick it up. And the other part is the fact that I'm sticking with Apple, even if they price drop in another few months and require me to be with AT&T. I want my iPhone to do everything it can, and if this unlock breaks anything, or won't vibe with the Visual Voicemail, or who knows what else, then iPhoneSIMfree can keep their $100 offer.But enough about what I want-- let's ask you, TUAWers. What do you think of the unlock?View PollThanks to everyone who sent this in!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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First Looks: Uniea U-Suit for iPod nano (3G)
After unexpectedly announcing leather cases for the new iPod nano before the device itself was unveiled, Hong Kong-based Uniea has proved stunningly fast out of the gate with actual cases for the third-generation iPod nano. The U-Suit for iPod nano (3G) is a puffed leather case that's been lined with soft fabric and internally hard-reinforced with plastic to preserve its nano-sculpted curves. Full bottom port and switch access is provided through…
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Prolink intros PixelView PlayTV Media Box
Filed under: Home Entertainment It may not boast the most original design or feature set, but Prolink's just-announced "PixelView PlayTV Media Box" looks like it should nonetheless handle your basic media recording needs just fine. Somewhat interestingly, this one doesn't pack any storage of its own, relying instead on SD cards or an external USB hard drive (both of which are hot swappable), which should help to keep the cost down quite a bit (no price has been announced). Otherwise, you'll get some basic PVR functionality, along with multi-channel preview of up to nine channels, a one-button recording feature, and recording profiles for a range of devices including iPod and PSP. Still no word on a release date, but we wouldn't expect it to be too far off.[Thanks, Eric] Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsOffice Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
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iPhone Tip: Transfer Ringtones The Easy Way
Upon the arrival of iTunes 7.4 ringtone support was added and despite the mandated 99 cents extra just to get it on your iPhone a simple workaround existed. It had been less than a day before Apple pushed 7.4.1 and apparently broke…
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iPhone Coding: Using the Accelerometer
Filed under: iPhoneYou don't need to use a lot of fancy routines to subscribe to data generated by the iPhone's built in accelerometer. A single UIApplication delegate lets you know whenever the iPhone has updated its tilt data. When you add a method for (void)acceleratedInX:(float)xx Y:(float)yy Z:(float)zz to any UIApplication, the iPhone sends regular messages to your application giving you values for X, Y, and Z. These values are not exactly what I first expected: X = Roll X corresponds to roll, or rotation around the axis that runs from your home button to your earpiece. Values vary from 0.5 (rolled all the way to the left) to -0.5 (rolled all the way to the right). Y = Pitch. Place your iPhone on the table and mentally draw a horizontal line about half-way down the screen. That's the axis around which the Y value rotates. Values go from 0.5 (the headphone jack straight down) to -0.5 (the headphone jack straight up). Z = Face up/face down. I expected the Z value to correspond to yaw. And it does not. It refers to whether your iPhone is face up (-0.5) or face down (0.5). When placed on it side, either the side with the volume controls and ringer switch, or the side directly opposite, the Z value equates to 0.0.Continue reading iPhone Coding: Using the AccelerometerRead | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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News: iPhone software unlock sales begin
iPhoneSIMFree's retail partners have begun sales of iPhone unlocking software. Companies in four countries — iPhoneWorldwideUnlock in Australia, 1digitalphone In Germany, iPhone4arab.com in Saudi Arabia and Wireless Imports in the US — have licensed the software from iPhoneSIMFree and are offering the software online. The iPhoneSIMFree software includes an application that is installed on the iPhone, and once run it contacts the…
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Should Apple Burn Its Economics Textbooks?
Perfect analysis on the iPhone price cut from Steven Levitt: By starting high, you get as much money as you can from those who really want the product, then expand the market at the lower price point. Hmm … that sounds exactly like what Apple just did with the iPhone. They brought it out at $599, sold one million iPhones, and then dropped the price to $399 after two months, in the hopes of selling nine million more this year. So why did this strategy blow up in Apple’s face, leading them to offer a $100 coupon to the early adopters, many of whom remain irate despite the rebate? What economists (and Apple too, I guess) ignore is that consumers hate it when companies follow practices that look like they are designed to maximize profits. ★
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Apple Rental Service, iPhone Tops One Million and Wireless Spectrum on Apple's Mind
Watch out Netflix, Apple's could be in your movies, stealing your subscribers. Apple pronounces one million sold and they might want to buy, possibly, the 700Mhz spectrum, maybe.
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Creating iPhone Ringtones With Fission
Paul Kafasis: Using Fission, you can crop audio down to your desired snippet, fade the ends in and out, and save, all in just a few clicks. ★
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Apple mulling 700MHz spectrum bid?
Filed under: WirelessThis isn't exactly what we had in mind when we pined after an iPhone unshackled from AT&T's network, but hey, it could work. BusinessWeek is reporting that a couple of sources have relayed that Apple is contemplating a bid in next year's FCC auction for the coveted 700MHz band, spectrum being freed by the move from analog to digital television. The auction has generated a groundswell of interest from behemoth players (Google, anyone?) thanks to its nationwide availability and the fact that it provides sufficient bandwidth for high speed services; it's not a shock, then, that Apple would want a crack at it considering its cash reserves and its recent entry into the wireless game. It pretty much goes without saying that AT&T and Apple are frenemies at best, locked in a marriage of convenience -- Apple needed a network and AT&T needed a smash hit. If the company could go it alone down the road with an even faster network all its own blanketing the States, we imagine that'd put a smile on Steve's face. The open access requirement could be a sticking point for a company as proprietary as Apple, but hey, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it; they've gotta outbid Mountain View first.[Via Phone Scoop] Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsOffice Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
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TUAW Tip: easy TUAW login bookmarklet
Filed under: Tips and tricks, TUAW Business, TUAW TipsA lot of folks write in complaining about the login system for commenting here on TUAW. While we completely sympathize (all the TUAW contributors have to login the same way to leave comments) in this day and age of comment spam it's an unfortunate necessity. That said, computers are supposed to make things easier, right? Well in a comment to a recent post Kalessin pointed us to a super handy bookmarklet from Alex Coles that will automatically fill in your TUAW credentials for posting comments. Of course you'll have to edit the bookmarklet with your own email and password, but I've tested it and it works great in Safari and Camino. So if your browser just won't save your personal info for whatever reason, just stick this bookmarklet in your bookmarks bar, edit the credentials, and your TUAW login is always only a click away. Obviously, the same idea can be extended to other sites, as well.Thanks Alex for this great timesaver!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Apple hits iPhone sales target ahead of forecast
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - After a week of dealing with negative customer reaction to the surprise cut in the price of its iPhone, Apple Inc. said Monday that it reached its goal